


a piece of (gluten free) cake

by umiwomitai



Series: neighbours au [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Johnny is dumb and loves food, Kun is gluten intolerant and a nice neighbour, M/M, this is just fluff because i love to procrastinate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-25
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-07-17 14:27:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16097510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/umiwomitai/pseuds/umiwomitai
Summary: Kun is the nicest neighbour Johnny and Yoonoh have ever had. He never complains about the noise, isn't noisy himself, and most of all, always gives them leftovers of whatever food he makes. Really, how could someone not fall for him?This is exactly what Johnny wonders as he bites into a slice of (gluten free) chocolate pie, totally not falling for his Chinese neighbour.





	a piece of (gluten free) cake

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is the result of me getting dumb ideas + procrastinating. I've been falling for johnkun recently so I wanted to add my little contribution to this wonderful ship. Here we go I guess! I might start making a neighbours!au series for the whole of NCT, so keep your eyes open ig. Enjoy!
> 
> (English isn't my first language and this is a very lazy piece of writing, please bear with me)

If he had to be honest, he would admit that he is looking forward everyday to bump into his next door neighbour  _ by chance. _

He wouldn’t, however, let anyone know that he is actually sometimes waiting in the hallway for a couple a minutes just in case his neighbour is coming out of his flat at this exact moment. He wouldn’t let anyone know that he buys gluten free biscuits at the organic food shop down their street just in case his neighbour knocks at their door because he’s run out of his own biscuits. He wouldn’t let anyone know that he’s stopped putting music on before 10 a.m. when he’s cleaning on Sunday mornings just in case his neighbour likes to sleep in. He wouldn’t let anyone know that he borrowed this chinese book - the translated version - at the library near his workplace just in case his neighbour wants to talk about it with him. 

Most of all, he wouldn’t let anyone, especially not Yoonoh, know that he’s definitely crushing on his neighbour, whose name he learned by reading on his mailbox and who he only talks to to apologise about Yoonoh being the most annoying roommate ever. 

_ It’s not that deep _ , he’d say to his friend with a roll of his eyes when he points out the fond smiles he gives to their neighbour. 

And it’s really not. Probably a little more than he should, considering the amount of proper conversations they’ve had so far is close to “ _ three if you count that one time I met him in the elevator”.  _ Still, he considers it is not enough to fall for someone, especially someone he knows so little about.

What he does know, however, is very precious information to him.

His neighbour is Kun Qian, is gluten intolerant, has the cutest pets he’s ever seen - a dog named Cream and a bunny -, loves ordering books (most of which are in Chinese) and probably cooks a little too much. He is, in all the four years Johnny has been living in this flat with his friend Yoonoh, the nicest neighbour they’ve had, and by far.

The fact that he has a dazzling smile, the cutest dimple he’s ever seen, a heartwarming voice and is always so polite and cheerful has nothing to do with Johnny’s preference. It’s all because of how handsome he is and all the food he always gives them.

Because that is the start of his fall down the Slight Infatuation Hell, as he likes to call it when he thinks about Kun at 3 a.m. 

On one fine saturday morning, just after Yoonoh had left for the gym, the bell rang and forced him to leave the comforting warmth of the covers on the couch. With his hair looking like a bird’s nest and the same pyjamas he’d been wearing for a week, he opened the door thinking Yoonoh had forgotten something only to be blessed with the sight of his handsome neighbour. 

He apologised profusely for “waking him up” and just handed a big plastic box saying he had made too much chocolate pie and he thought maybe they’d like to have the leftovers. Johnny didn’t have the heart to tell him he had been awake for three hours already and that they didn’t usually eat gluten free food, just took the box, thanked him and promised to give the box back soon. 

Strangely enough, it has become some kind of routine for them. At least once a week, Kun would come knock at their door with leftovers of whatever new recipe he’s just tried. Quickly enough, Johnny starts going back home as early as he can each day just to make sure he will be the one to see Kun and talk to him. 

“You’re totally whipped,” Yoonoh mumbles as he takes a bite of the slice of walnut and honey pie Kun brought them the day before, crumbs falling on his lap. 

“And you’re disgusting. Take a plate if you’re gonna let half of it fall on the couch,” Johnny complains but gets up himself and hands his friend the plate. “It’s good, right?”

“It always is. Isn’t he some kind of chef or something?”

“I don’t know. I never asked.”

With a snort followed by a cough, Yoonoh mocks him and his changing behaviour whenever Kun is around. Johnny has never told him about his crush on Kun, yet he is deeply convinced that he doesn’t need to because Yoonoh is able to read him like no one else. 

“Dude I’m gonna have to spend some extra time at the gym with all the desserts he’s been giving us lately.”

“They’re good,” Johnny protests with a pout, swallowing a spoonful of chocolate mousse. It’s melting in his mouth and he wants to moan because it is just this good. He doesn’t for the sole reason that Yoonoh is here. 

“That’s exactly why. Please tell him I kinda hate him for it next time you see him.”

“Tell him yourself.”

He can hear Yoonoh laugh wholeheartedly from the couch before he retreats in his room, hiding from the intrusive questions. He knows where this is going and he doesn’t want to be the victim yet another time.

 

* * *

 

He does tell Kun that his desserts are the sweetest next time he sees him, between embarrassed apologises and awkward smiles. He isn’t sure anymore whether Kun is asking on purpose or not, but every time they talk, he always mentions the loud parties Yoonoh throws from time to time.

It isn’t that they are particularly loud. They are pretty careful and don’t party late into the night. It is more that they would party for the smallest reason. Last time they’ve invited friends over is to celebrate Lucas’s getting his driving license. Yoonoh just is incredibly talented to find the most ridicule reasons. 

Johnny always ends up being the one warning Kun, and he secretly thanks his friend for always evading from this task. He suspects he does it on purpose just like how Kun teases him all the time. Tonight, however, he has gathered enough courage to come knock on his door for another reason.

Kun opens, wearing a dirty grey apron and his hair tied in small pigtails. He has a spoon in his hand and the batter around his mouth looks so tempting Johnny has a hard time holding back from kissing him.

“Yes, Johnny?” 

(And maybe Johnny loves hearing his chinese accent on his name but this is also something he will never admit)

“Hi. Sorry to bother you while you’re cooking.”

“Oh it’s fine, it’s in the oven now. You needed something?”

“We’re throwing a small party between friends tonight and I just wanted to know if maybe, this time you would like to join?”

Kun looks at him through his lashes, does eyes growing bigger at the surprise, and his mind goes into overdrive. He wants to kiss the batter from his lips and untie his hair absentmindedly while doing so. He wants to caress his whole face and cover it with sweet kisses. He wants to get lost in the depth of his eyes and tell him how pretty he is when he looks up at him like this.

Kun’s voice snaps him out of his reverie. 

“Me?”

“Yeah. We always bother you, and you’re just so nice to us all the time. Lucas has been dying to meet you.”

“So you told your friends about me?” and as he hears the question, Johnny bites his tongue in regret. Why does he never think before speaking?

“Well, he ate some of your leftovers so I had to mention the chef,” he says more tentatively that he should have sounded. 

“Sure, then. Just let me get changed and I’ll be there soon. I’ll bring the cake, unless Yoonoh doesn’t want me to.”

_ Who cares about Yoonoh honestly?  _ is what Johnny is so close to answer, because that’s the only thing he can think about. His mind is full of Kun’s voice and Kun’s dimple and the thought of kissing him so it really is a miracle to him when he ends up answering:

“Your cake is just as welcome as you are. You know the way!”

With a terribly awkward wave and the choking feeling of having made a fool out of himself, Johnny heads back to his flat. Lucas is already here, eating pasta leftovers out of the pot while sitting on the kitchen counter.

“Oh John. How’s your chinese chef?”

“He’s coming soon, and with a cake.”

“Yes! I can’t wait.”

With a laugh and an amused look on his face, Johnny whispers a soft “ _ obviously _ ” before going in the bathroom to shower and get dressed.

 

* * *

 

It is truly one the less pretentious party they’ve ever had. It’s just the five of them, Amber arriving just minutes after Kun, laughing and playing Monopoly until Amber and Lucas fight too much and throw the game away. They end up piled up on the couch, watching reruns of Teen Titans while randomly asking questions to Kun, who surprisingly fits into the group very well. 

Johnny realises near the end of the night, when he’s in the kitchen storing away the boxes of snack Lucas hasn’t devoured yet, that he has barely spoken to Kun, too focus on admiring him. Just as he is mentally insulting himself for being such a moron, his neighbour comes into the room with empty glasses and the empty cake pan. 

“Put that right here, I’ll wash it tomorrow and bring it back to you.”

“Oh don’t bother, I’ll take it back home with me,” he reassures him with a smile. “It was a very fun night.”

“Yeah? I’m glad you enjoyed it. We can be a handful sometimes, especially Lucas.”

“He’s a funny guy! Hard to keep up with but he really put me at ease.”

Johnny stops cleaning the kitchen to look at Kun one more time. He is obviously tired now and his pants are all crumpled from sitting on the couch for too long. Yet he remains stunning as he smile fully at Johnny, standing near the door. Lucas comes in just as he is opening his mouth to ask something. 

“Oh my god, Kun! Your cake? A true wonder! I must marry you in the minute. How come you are still single?”

Somehow, Johnny is still amazed at his friend’s capacity of always saying the right things at the worst moments without ever noticing he’s done it. It is a talent he has yet to master himself. 

“I wonder the same thing,” Kun replies with a laugh, and Johnny wants to believe he imagined the look he gave him at the same time.

(He has to be dreaming, right?)

Still, when it’s time for everyone to leave and Yoonoh walks both Amber and Lucas back to their car, Johnny insists to walk Kun to his door even though he just has to cross the hallway. As he gets inside, Kun invites him and closes the door behind him. 

There is Cream sleeping on the neatly folded pile of clothes on a shelf and he sees Kun frown at her, but he doesn’t move her away. The bunny is moving furiously in its cage, scraping away the food at the bottom. Apart from those two, everything is clean and silent, smelling like almonds and laundry. Suddenly, Johnny realises first that he’s never been inside Kun’s flat despite all the time he’s been leaving just next door, and then that his home is way neater that his has ever been. He doesn’t clean to this extent even when his mom comes over. 

“Do you work from home?” he asks more to himself, yet Kun hears him as he comes back from the kitchen.

“Partly. I study from home and have a part-time job. That’s why I have so much time to cook.”

“It’s pretty logic now.”

Silence falls upon them and Kun quickly starts making tea, despite the clock almost reaching 1 a.m. He catches him looking at his back, seeming so small still even from this short distance. It takes everything in him not to reach and backhug the small man. He takes his cup without a word, seeping his too hot tea like it’s nothing hoping it will help him remain stone-cold. 

“Lucas told me you constantly talk about my food.”

Attempt miserably failed. Johnny feels his face grow warmer and hides behind his mug. Maybe it could pass off as the tea burning him. 

“I really like it. It’s innovative, how you constantly find ways to make things without gluten and stuff.”

“You know nothing about food, don’t you.”

“I just know how to eat it, really,” he tries to joke, and thankfully is rewarded with a sincere laugh from Kun. 

“I noticed.” 

And perhaps, he should hold back once again. Perhaps he should listen to his head telling him that this look in Kun’s eyes and the sudden proximity is all smoke and mirrors. But this time, he wants to reach out and kiss his lips and another voice coming from his heart urges him to do so. Because there is no way Kun is looking at him for no reason.

So he pushes away his tea cup and cups Kun’s face instead, tasting the tea directly from his lips. He feels like he could drink tea all his life if it meant being able to kiss lips like these ones at the same time. 

“Took you long enough,” Kun whispers as he pulls back, licking his lips lightly with his eyes locked in Johnny’s. 

“Really?” he says dumbly. It feels like Kun has sucked all his words away from him. 

“I never thought bribing you with food would take so long.”

“Bribing? Is this what you were trying to do?” Johnny asks dumbfounded. 

Kun smirks at him, and he feels like a young boy once again, looking at his older cousin telling him he had fallen for his trick once again. He can’t bring himself to resent him though, not when he looks at him with such mirth in his eyes. 

“Did you really think that all this time I was just making too much food? I should have started just making less at some point if I wasn’t interested in giving you some.”

Johnny wants to come up with some smart-ass, snarky comment, but he is once again at a loss in front of the proofs of his own stupidity. He laughed incredulously and pushed his hair back with a hand, looking at Kun with his usual mesmerized look, but this time not even trying to conceal it. 

“You got me.”

“From head to toe,” Kun jokes, leaning forward on elbows to reach Johnny’s lips and kiss him one more time. “As an apologise.”

“I’m not sure I can forgive you that easily, though.”

Kun raises his eyebrows but smiles even wider and takes his hand in his, leading him to another room. The bedroom.

“Really?”

“A piece of your chocolate pie could do, though.”

With one last amused laugh, Kun pulls him in and closes the bedroom door, kissing him a little stronger than before.

“Whatever you want, big boy. How about you spend the night here and I’ll bake it for you tomorrow, hm?”

Johnny is already losing himself in the scent of nis neck, kissing everywhere he can reach, and hums absentmindedly. 

“Everything Your Majesty desires.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> this is so crappy but thanks for reading anyway. come yell at me at the occasion! 
> 
>  [tumblr](https://umiwomitai.tumblr.com) [twt](https://twitter.com/_tildawn) [cc](https://curiouscat.me/umiwomitai)
> 
> [EDIT: there is a part two in the series]


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